Cat Island

Our latest stop-over has been Cat Island Bahamas.  We left Great Exuma on Saturday, February 15th and cruised the 40 miles to Cat Island.  Keith pulled some fishing lines and we had some good and bad luck.  Keith hooked into something REALLY BIG; but just as he got it to the surface, it came off the hook.  Keith is pretty sure it was a big wahoo since Cat Island is know for the size and quantity of its Wahoo in its waters.  That was the bad luck.  The good luck was that he was able to land a nice yellowfin tuna that made two dinners for the two of us.

Keith fighting a big one

Fish On!  Here comes the yellowfin tuna he did land

Tuna for dinner

Cat Island is approximately 48 miles long north to south and ranges from 1 to 4 miles wide.  It has approximately 1,600 people that live on the island.  Cat Island was named after Arthur Catt, a little known pirate that is said to have frequented the island.  We are staying at Hawk's Nest Marina and Resort at the southern end of the island.  One day we biked over to the resort office and sat out at their beach and pool for a bit.  The road to the resort crosses the air strip so they have signs for any cars to alert you to the possible air traffic.

The resort has a small but very nice pool

I also took the kayak up into the mangroves next to the marina.  The saltwater creek goes quite a way up into the mangroves.

I saw turtles which were plentiful but elusive for pictures.  I did see many conchs (juveniles) and a few star fish.  One was bright orange, but of course that is the one that my go-pro did not get the picture to turn out.  This smaller tan one was cute through.

Star fish

Juvenile conch

Small yellow snapper under the mangrove roots

During the middle of the week we rented a car for two days to explore.  The drive to the top of the island took one and a half hours.  Then we got onto a dirt road for another 4 miles to reach the beach we were trying to go shelling on.

OMG is this really the road?  And this was the good section.

We finally reached the beach.

It is beautiful, but on every beach we have been on in the Bahamas there is so much plastic trash.  You would just not believe it.  Here is just a fraction of what we saw that day.

As I said, that is just a fraction.  It is such a shame these beautiful beaches have trash all over the place.  I have never seen anything like it.  Unfortunately, it washes up from the ocean.  I did get a large conch that was in pretty good shape and a few small shells, but by far there was more trash than treasure on the beach.

The first day we explored the far northern end of the island.  The second day we headed more to the middle and south eastern portions.  We had to be careful of the "locals" on the road in several places.

The highest point on Cat Island is also the highest point in all the Bahamas.  Como Hill stands 206 feet above sea level.  At the top of this hill is a small, stone monastery built by the architect hermit, Father Jerome Hawes in 1939.  He left an architectural career in England to become an Anglican missionary in the Bahamas.  He built the church at the top of Como Hill by himself as well as carving the 14 stations of the cross along the pathway leading up the hill to the church.  He named his  monastery, Mt. Alvernia and many refer to the hill by this name even today.  Monsignor Jerome Hawes passed away in 1956  and is said to be buried beneath his monastery.

The path up to Mt. Alvernia and the 14 stations of the cross

Mt. Alvernia

The view from the top is grand

Inside the chapel

At the base of Como Hill are the remains of the Armbrister Plantation House.  The Great House was built by Henry Hawkins Armbrister, a Scotsman in the late 1750's.  It is said to be the second oldest structure in the Bahamas.  The mansion was burned by enslaved Africans during a slave revolt in the early 1800's.  Slaves were emancipated in the Bahamas (then under the British Crown in 1834).

Armbrister Great House Ruins

View out from the mansion remains

Another plantation house ruins are located in the town of Port Howe. Colonel Andrew Deveaux was born to plantation owners in Beaufort, SC in 1758.  At the age of 17, Andrew joined the military and because his father was a Loyalist; Andrew fought on the side of the British.  In 1782 the British evacuated Loyalists and its military from South Carolina and relocated them into Florida. With the American War for Independence coming to an end, Deveaux needed a new calling. 

It was from Florida in the spring of 1783 that now Col. Andrew Deveaux devised a plan to recapture Nassau, Bahamas from the Spanish for the British Crown.  He set out with 70 men and 6 vessels.  Once reaching Harbor Island, in the Bahamas, Col. Deveaux picked up several more men and with a total of 220 men and 150 muskets he set out for Nassau to face 600 Spanish soldiers.  He was able to force the Spanish to surrender without firing a single shot.  As a reward, he was granted Cat Island and built a mansion and plantation on the island.

Deveaux House and out buildings

Our stay on Cat Island has come to an end and we are heading to Eleuthera on Thursday February 20th.  The weather looks good for us to make the 70 mile run from Cat to Cape Eleuthera.  Friday the wind is expected pick up and there is to be quite the gale on Saturday.  We will be tucked into the marina at Cape Eleuthera on the southern end of the island.